For the next Drink with Me...

We'll be drinking Baby Blue from Balcones Whisky.

As it sits tantalizingly on top of my whisky cabinet, I am looking forward to opening it, tasting it, talking about it with Murdina Flummery (my whisky sidekick) and imagining you sipping along with us.

Now's the time to go get your bottle, or if it's not convenient to pick one up in person, you've still got time to order it online (if you're legal, of course.)

Like most of the whiskys that I'll highlight, this one should be a really good one and not a crazy price. It looks like it's around $50 in the US.

We're recording in a few days and publishing a few days after that, so you've still got time to get ready!

 

Drink with Me Episode 2: Teeling Single Grain

It's time for another episode of Drink with Me! Well, with me and my whisky side, Murdina Flummery.

Meanwhile, in the Temple Bar...

Meanwhile, in the Temple Bar...

This time, we drink Teeling Single Grain Irish Whiskey. Drink with Me is best listened to with your own fresh bottle of whatever we're drinking, or anyway, that's the idea. If you listen to podcasts in your car or if you're 12, do NOT do it that way. Just listen.

In this episode, we cover such burning topics as what's the whole issue with "whisky" versus "whiskey" and whether or not Teeling whiskey in particular has value as part of your dental hygeine routine.

Also, not wanting to do spoilers, but this is a great whiskey. If you're a whisky newb (or is it n00b?), this makes an awesome first step, but if you're a might whisky warrior (you know you picture yourself that way), you're going to like it too. 

So, with no further delay, subscribe or download from iTunes or just listen here.

 

 

 

Drink with Me...

Here's how this will work:

1. I'm going to pick a whisky.

2. It'll be good, it'll be something you can find most places (your mileage may vary), and it won't be overly expensive.

3. You go buy it.*

4. I recruit a drinking partner or two and we drink it, all the while recording our brilliant thoughts.

5. We turn this into a podcast.

6. You download that podcast.

7. You break open the whisky and, you guessed it, Drink with Me!

From the time I post the whisky we're drinking, I'll give you at least a week to get the whisky. 

Got it?

This week, my friend Murdina and I are drinking:

Glenfarclas 12 year

You can find it for purchase here, and of course, many other places. It's a spectacular piece of Whisky work and Murdina is just a piece of work. The results should be dramatic.

Stay tuned in a week or so for the podcast.

Stuff You Should Know about Whisky: What the hell is whisky, anyway?

I can practically hear Iain now: "If you're gonna be drinkin' it, you better know what it is!" (Imagine the comically enchanting Scottish accent in your head.)

Maybe it's best not to know what you're drinking sometimes...I mean, how much do you want to think about what milk actually is? But when it comes to whisky, you do want to know! When you're handed a mysterious liquid that you can set on fire*, you might have a wee question or two.

              Drink me... Damn right, Alice!

              Drink me... Damn right, Alice!

Unless you're an adventurous sort. In which case, hit me up. We should definitely drink together...

Anyway, whisky is mostly just two things: some kind of grain and water. Seriously, that's it. There's yeast too. It mixes with the water and grain to start the fermenting process, but ignore that. The yeast is part of whisky like the parsley garnish is part of a steak dinner. Technically, sure, parsley, you're in there, but please get out of steak and baked potato's light.

Scotch is the term for Scotch Whisky, which basically is just whisky made in Scotland and it's mostly made from barley. Bourbon is another kind of whisky, mostly made from corn. And there are others and there are blends and they all create a rainbow of whisky flavors. Kinda like the range of Chex cereal varieties

Whisky also needs one more ingredient, he said suddenly becoming non-literal about this whole thing: 

Time.

Whisky has to sit in barrels. The barrels are different, kinda like Chex cereal. Actually, not like Chex cereal at all. I don't know what made me think Chex was going to be some kind of perfect metaphor for everything.

It's more like if you've ever had a metal canteen full of water and by the end of the day, your water tastes like canteen. Except in this case, in a good way. The different woods that the barrels are made of and, you're going to like this, what USED TO BE in the barrel makes the flavor different.

That and how much time it spends in the barrel. 

So what's whisky?

*Water

*Some grain or grains 

*Yeast (happy, yeast?)

*Time in a barrel

And that it's, pretty much. The whole Flavor Rainbow of Whisky comes from those!

We'll continue the Stuff You Should Know about Whisky series in posts to come! You're good for now.

 

*This article covers "why you should set drinks on fire." I appreciate the spirit of this, though I also think that the question pretty much answers itself. Fire good.